diff --git a/decode_stringlen_test.go b/decode_stringlen_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f347b8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/decode_stringlen_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// Copyright 2009 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package bencode
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A malformed string length (negative, or so large it overflows the slice
+// allocator) must be reported as an error, not crash the decoder.
+func TestDecodeMalformedStringLength(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, in := range []string{
+		"-1:",
+		"900000000000000000:",
+		"5:abc", // truncated: claims 5 bytes, only 3 present
+	} {
+		if _, err := Decode(strings.NewReader(in)); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Decode(%q) = nil error, want error", in)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A well-formed string must still decode correctly after the length check.
+func TestDecodeStringRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := Decode(bytes.NewReader([]byte("5:hello")))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Decode: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got != "hello" {
+		t.Errorf("Decode = %q, want %q", got, "hello")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/incswparse.go b/incswparse.go
index 2513872..fc6c938 100644
--- a/incswparse.go
+++ b/incswparse.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
     "bufio"
     "bytes"
     "errors"
+    "fmt"
+    "io"
     "strconv"
 )
 
@@ -105,12 +107,19 @@ func unmarshal(data *bufio.Reader) (interface{}, error) {
         if err != nil {
             return nil, err
         }
+        if stringLength < 0 {
+            return nil, fmt.Errorf("bad string length: %d", stringLength)
+        }
 
-        buf := make([]byte, stringLength)
-
-        _, err = readAtLeast(data, buf, int(stringLength))
+        var buf bytes.Buffer
+        if _, err = io.CopyN(&buf, data, stringLength); err != nil {
+            if err == io.EOF {
+                err = io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
+            }
+            return nil, err
+        }
 
-        return string(buf), err
+        return buf.String(), nil
     }
 }